by Sadie Moss
With another gesture, Callum shifts the image again, and my stomach tightens into a knot.
No. Farse, no.
A group of men on pitiful looking horses are riding into the village, and they’re carrying weapons. I watch, horrified, as the front horseman points his sword at Josef Noonan and speaks. In the distance behind Josef, a cabin is on fire.
“Raiders?” Paris offers.
Callum nods once. “Looks that way. From a neighboring village within Zelus’s realm, most likely.”
“Raiders? Why?” I ask, and even I can hear the note of hysteria creeping back in after they worked so hard to get it out of me.
Echo’s arms band around my waist as he comes to stand behind me, and even though I know he’s probably just restraining me so I don’t try to make a mad dash for the door or accidentally trip over the weave, his touch helps ground me a bit.
He leans in, his face close to mine as his gaze moves over the scene. “You told us yourself, Zelus is neglecting all of you. Everyone is so starved and desperate that the humans are attacking one another, trying to take anything they can get their hands on.”
“It’s common in hard times,” Paris adds. “When everybody is losing faith, they’ll do anything to fix the problem, even if it means attacking their own.”
“We have to do something!”
I strain against Echo’s hold, trying to keep my imagination from running wild. My village went from destitution and starvation to being under attack in only a matter of hours. All I can see in my mind’s eye are armed men bursting into my home and killing my family. My mother is already so weak, and Nolan is just this side of death.
Clutching at the thick muscles of Echo’s forearm, I crane my neck to look at the men around me. “We have to go. Right now.”
I know I’m not in a position to demand anything of them when they’re already going so far out of their way to help me.
But to my surprise, Callum nods. He looks first at Echo, then at Paris, and some kind of silent communication passes between them that I don’t understand. “Pack some essentials.”
“What’s wrong?” I ask, confused by their pointed looks.
“Nothing,” Callum grunts. “Go get ready. We’ll meet in the parlor in ten minutes.”
I can’t pretend this closed-off diffidence is anything but normal for him, but I get the sense he’s holding something back. The rules of this realm aren’t the same as those of earth, and I wonder if we’ll be breaking some messenger rule by returning to my village.
After the men felled the bear-wolf beast earlier, I lost track of the bag of supplies I was carrying. It’s probably still lying on the forest floor, being rooted through by small animals. But since I’m leaving with Callum, Echo, and Paris this time, there’s really nothing I need. I’m not sure how long the journey will take, or even how long we’ll be on the other side of the veil, so I pack a spare dress and a few essentials, then join the men who are already waiting for me in the parlor.
We don’t take the same route I took earlier, which tells me my journey to find the portal was doomed from the start. We head back toward the city, though instead of keeping the straight line we’d follow to reach to the palace, we veer off near the market and take a smaller road away from the city center.
I wrinkle my nose as I gaze around us. I almost think I recognize this road—though to be fair, the last time I saw it I was hanging upside down over Echo’s shoulder with all the blood settling into my head. Anything I remember seeing from that journey is suspect.
The buildings grow farther apart, and I can tell we’re leaving the heart of Kaius’s city behind. This area seems to be mostly residential, like the area where Callum, Echo, and Paris live. As we’re passing a row of nearly identical homes, a front door opens and a girl steps out, tossing the strap of a satchel over her shoulder.
It’s Violet.
She hurries down the narrow road, clearly on an errand, and notices us passing. The men pay her no mind whatsoever, as if she doesn’t even exist, but I stop walking as she approaches.
“Sage!” Her face lights up with excitement as she steps forward to hug me. She’s always so happy and energetic, which is a welcome change from the somewhat dour energy that often seems to surround Callum and our house.
Violet releases me to take my hand and squeeze it, giving me a genuine smile. “What are your masters doing? This is the wrong road for the palace!”
I open my mouth, not sure where to start. But before I can tell her about the afterworld beast and the magic mirror, and how she was right about the Unclaimed Expanse being dangerous, Callum grabs my arm and yanks me away from her. It’s so quick and abrupt that it almost feels like I stepped through a portal, and I let out a small yelp of surprise. Echo puts himself between me and Violet.
“We have to be going,” he says, his tone lacking the usual friendliness it holds when he speaks to me.
“Oh! My apologies, messengers.” Violet curtsies to him, looking suitably chastened. “I meant no disrespect.”
“None taken,” Paris says smoothly, taking my other arm. He and Callum manhandle me around to move off down the road.
I’m still blinking rapidly, my brain trying to catch up to what just happened, when I glance up at Callum’s stony face.
“What was that all about? I know her. You didn’t have to drag me away—she wasn’t going to hurt me.”
Running a hand through his hair, the big warrior cuts a glance my way out of the corner of his eye. “We’re running out of time. Would you like your family to die?”
My lips press together at the harshness of his response. He’s not wrong, and it’s a point well taken that I don’t have time to stop and talk even for a minute. But I wonder if he’ll always run so hot and cold, gentle one moment and hard as stone the next.
I wonder if my heart can take it.
But I clench my teeth, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response. Something has all three of them on edge, and I don’t have the faintest idea what it could be.
So I keep my thoughts silent and let them steer me down the road, my thoughts turning once again to Nolan and my mother.
23
We exit the city and head into the Unclaimed Expanse from a different direction than last time. Then we walk for a long time, each of us playing host to our own thoughts instead of speaking to one another. Callum strides ahead of us, remote and unreadable, while Paris and Echo flank me as if they’re worried I might run away again.
When I can’t take the pressure building inside me any longer, I ask, “Is there any way to get there faster? Those men could have destroyed my entire village by now.”
“I’m afraid not, little soul,” Paris says. He’s the only one who’s returned to his usual demeanor and sounds remotely like himself again. “There are only certain places in the afterworld where it’s even possible to get back to earth. They’re special, mystical places. Not common alehouses.”
“Are we going to the place where my soul came through when I died?” I ask.
“No,” Echo says, glancing at me. “The portal is farther away than that. When we reach the earthly plane, we’ll be able to travel faster by using the weave, but here, we have no choice but to walk. Oh, and be mindful of the terrain shifts. Keep your wits about you and give yourself a second to reorient before you plunge ahead.”
I shiver, glancing around us at the desolate terrain. Large chunks of rock dot the landscape around us, and the only trees that grow in this area are all scraggly and misshapen.
“I’ll be careful. I’ve told you before how I used to hunt for my people in the woods,” I say. “A good sense of direction is as important as the ability to lift a weapon when you’re hunting to survive.”
“Good point.” Echo smiles this time, and I sense the tension in him lessen just a little.
“What was your life like?” Paris asks, his tone curious. “Were you happy before you came to us?”
The question surprises me, and
I take a second to consider my answer. I’m still champing at the bit to reach the portal faster, but since there’s no way to do that, I suppose talking will help distract me from my nerves.
But strangely, I’m not quite sure how to answer his query. Was I happy? I love my family, and I miss them, but is there anything else from the mortal realm that I truly miss?
“I don’t know,” I say quietly. Then I shake my head, a small, sad laugh falling from my lips. “I was busy. Every day, there was something to do. For almost as long as I can remember, it took all my time and energy just to survive. There was no time to worry about whether I was happy. There was too much to do.”
“What else did you do besides hunting?” Echo asks.
Callum’s footsteps slow a little, allowing us to catch up, and I realize even he is listening. He’s still ahead of us, but he’s looking off into the distance, his ear turned toward us.
“My mother is the village healer,” I reply, my throat tightening. “So when I wasn’t hunting, I would be working under her tutelage with the understanding that one day, I’d take over for her.”
Saying the words out loud reminds me just how much I’ve lost. That entire future is gone now.
But will I miss it?
Healing was never my passion the way it was hers. I would’ve gladly taken up the occupation so that the people of my village would have less to fear from injury and disease, but it never lit a fire in my soul the way it did for Mother.
“What does a healer do in the mortal realm?” Paris asks. He seems genuinely interested to know; perhaps he’s as fascinated by my world as I am by his.
“Basic medicine, both internal and external. My mother’s done her fair share of midwifery as well, though I never sat in for any of that. The village has another midwife who handles most of the pregnancies and births.”
“But you said your brother is dying. From an injury?” Echo clarifies. “Could your mother not heal him?”
I swallow a sudden rush of emotion. “There are some infections that go too deep to be healed.”
Echo reaches out and touches my shoulder. It’s such a small, quick gesture, but it speaks multitudes. “I’m sorry, Sage. I hope we get there in time.”
Callum looks back over his shoulder, and something has shifted in his face. There’s a fierceness to his expression, but a softness in it too. “We will get there in time.”
My heart gives a little stutter, and I keep talking to hide the rush of emotion that fills me.
“Things have never been easy in my village. But the past few years, it’s just gotten worse,” I say, the memories of it nearly choking me. “Animals are dying out, our crops keep failing, wild grown herbs have become impossible to find. Things have been declining for so long, and we finally reached a breaking point. That’s why I sacrificed myself to save them. Only it didn’t help. Nothing is different.”
Paris spits on the ground, making an angry noise in his throat. “What kind of god ignores such a sacrifice?”
“And now they’re being attacked.” I clench my fists, picking up my stride. “Zelus has done nothing but fail my people.”
“We’ll do everything we can,” Echo promises. “You won’t be alone.”
His words seem to land directly in my chest, and I let them sit there like a comforting balm as we continue walking.
It takes a long time. Far, far too long.
At one point, Echo explains in a quiet voice that the shifting landscape of the Unclaimed Expanse means the portal actually moves. Unlike me, the messengers can sense the portal’s presence, so they’re able to track it even as its location shifts.
It feels a bit like a wild goose chase, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in frustration every time the landscape changes around us, certain that the portal is only being dragged farther and farther away.
The sun is beginning to set and the last rays of light are cutting through the trees when Callum steps off the path so abruptly it startles me.
He places a hand on the hilt of his sword as he moves off into the forest, and on either side of me, Echo and Paris do the same, each man catching one of my hands to guide me through the thick, dead undergrowth.
Excitement hums in my veins like a leashed bolt of lightning, and I pay no attention to the brambles dragging at the hem of my dress.
We’ve made it.
We’ve found the portal.
None of my earlier conjectures about the portal’s appearance come even close to the real deal. We come to a stop in a clearing barely ten feet wide with a slender rectangle of bare dirt in the center. I see nothing—no sign, no swirling vortex of magic, not even a hint that something mystical fills this space.
At least, not until Callum plucks the threads of the weave and reaches out. Something shimmers like water around his fingers, and then his hand disappears in mid-air.
“Well done, brother.” Paris nods, looking pleased. Then he gives me a little push toward where the broad-shouldered man is standing. “Off we go, little soul.”
Callum holds out a hand, and I stare at it for an awkward moment. Does he intend for me to hold it? Despite the fact that I kissed him earlier, or maybe because of it, this seems like such an intimate gesture.
“You’ll go through the portal holding hands with me and with Echo,” he says, a hint of amusement in his deep voice. “The two of us will guide you through the veil. We don’t need you falling off track and ending up on the other side of the human world.”
A thrill of fear runs up my spine as I contemplate what we’re about to do, and that overrides any hesitation I might feel about touching Callum like this. I place my hand in his without a single remark. Echo slides his hand into my other, and then we step into the shimmering veil.
The veil feels strange but not unpleasant, like cool water washing over me. I’m reminded of the fresh spring that flows in off the mountains near my village. It’s half a day’s travel by foot to get there, but the reward is always worth it—the coolest, most refreshing water to drink. And on a hot summer day, dipping into that spring is a religious experience. Or it was anyway.
As we pass beyond the portal’s invisible veil, the world falls apart around me.
I’m anchored to Callum ahead of me and Echo behind me, but I think we’re falling, or flying even, with disorienting speed. Everything around us is rushing air and twisting colors, and the pressure is so intense I feel as if my bones are crumbling.
Then we pass through another shimmer that feels like summer mountain streams, and a moment later, I step onto solid ground.
My body suddenly feels heavy and unwieldy, and I stumble sideways, losing my grip on Callum and Echo. I trip over something and go down hard on my elbows, sending a shock of pain through both arms.
“Nish!” I mutter under my breath.
A stick zooms past my head. For a wild second, I think we’re under attack, and my heart surges into a gallop. But then I realize that everything not attached to the forest floor has risen to float and whizz around the clearing.
I’ve tripped over the weave again. Farse it all, I haven’t done that in a long time. I thought I’d gotten better than that, more skilled.
I drop my head back to the grass and let out an irritated huff. “I thought I was past this.”
Echo steps into my field of vision. He’s grinning in amusement, which makes me want to find a stick that isn’t already zooming around the clearing and throw it at his face. But then his smile fades, and sympathy replaces the humor in his expression.
“Your emotions are running high, and we’ve just come to an entirely new plane of existence, little soul. You’re bound to have some mishaps.”
“Let’s keep the mishaps to a minimum,” Callum says, waving a hand to capture the errant forest debris and return it to the ground. He shares a look with Echo and Paris, then goes on. “You especially shouldn’t do magic here. You’re not of this realm anymore. You don’t belong here.”
All I
can do is nod.
He’s right, and I know it.
I can feel the truth of it in my bones as I lie on the ground feeling like my skin no longer fits my body. I’m solid, but I’m no longer a living being.
24
We move quickly now that we’ve arrived in the mortal realm, because we’re able to use magic to help us, and I’m beyond grateful for that. The longer we take to get to my village, the more likely the raiders will have destroyed it before we can stop them.
I hold Callum’s hand as we move across the realm using strands of the weave. It’s nearly as disorienting and jarring as traveling through the portal from the afterworld was, though each jump is much faster than the journey we took through the portal. He grabs hold, and then we race through a single strand, and in the matter of a moment, we’ve traveled hundreds of miles. It’s exhilarating, but it takes five strands to get us to my village, and every moment stretches out like a death knell.
What if we haven’t made it in time? The longer this journey takes, the greater the likelihood that more than just my brother will die today.
Our last leap lands us near the bottom of the slope to the foothills where I sacrificed myself. My heart is nearly pounding out of my chest after the giddy disorientation of weave traveling, but when I recognize this place, I immediately sober.
I almost can’t believe I’m looking at these foothills again in the waning light of day. I walked into those trees expecting to never walk out… and I didn’t. But somehow, here I am, returned from the dead with three immortal beings who own pieces of my soul.
The afterlife is a strange beast.
As if they’re one person with one mind, all three messengers draw their swords and fan out ahead of me. I roll my eyes and draw my dagger—a replacement from their extensive armory that Paris gave me before we left the men’s house.
I’m capable of taking care of myself, in this world at least.